


Last Days

by factorielle



Series: Down The Line [1]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Future Fic, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-02-08
Updated: 2006-02-08
Packaged: 2017-10-10 22:30:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 14
Words: 1,395
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/105093
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/factorielle/pseuds/factorielle





	1. Another's Home

It starts with an obsequious captain offering him a ride to the next island. Zoro falls asleep in seconds and is rudely awoken by yet another moron who thought that murdering him would be a shortcut to glory. Afterward the trip become boring, and by the time the coward on watch calls that he's spotted a boat Zoro is ready to welcome any distraction from a crew that is rightfully terrified of him.

It's only when he recognizes the fish head that Zoro realizes that his wandering has led him back to a place that stir way too many memories.


	2. Choice

There are ghosts in this empty restaurant room that Zoro doesn't care to think about, but he's learned the hard way to never refuse the offer of a good meal when at sea. So he nods and sits on one of the dusty chairs as Zeff heads back to the kitchen.

As he waits he hears distant shouts and understands that the pirates he came here with are taking their chance at sailing the hell away from him. He gets up, then hears a loud coughing fit from upstairs. Unbidden, the ghosts start tugging at him.

He sits back down.


	3. Better Than

Curry is something that even Zoro can make, yet the old cook stands behind his back and watches like a hawk. One could think he is waiting for praise and will kick out if he doesn't get it, but Zoro has long since learned that a first-rate cook values honesty over flattery. So he eats the first plate slowly and takes a few seconds to make up his mind before he turns to look at Zeff, and tells him the truth.

"I've had better."

Zeff nods with grim satisfaction and limps away, leaving Zoro to finish his meal alone.


	4. Common Points

A few idle cooks come out after Zeff leaves; Zoro asks no question but they take turns answering anyway.

They tell him how Zeff developed a lung disease mere weeks after Sanji left, how closely the Marines have monitored them until the trickle of customers dried out. They tell him that the restaurant is as good as dead now, and so is its owner, according to the doctor who visits on her way back from her home to the Loguetown Hospital.

After a few minutes Zoro realizes that they all silently blame Sanji.

He does too, but for different things.


	5. One Man

After dinner they find themselves on deck at the same time by pure accident. For a long time neither of them can figure out what to say or how to walk away, knowing that they have but one thing in common. One man they both want to know more about, without having to admit they do.

Zoro tells himself that keeping a promise made at heelpoint is as good a start as another, and says "That shitty cook, he said, if anyone got to... he said to tell you 'found it, shitty old man'."

It's enough to break the ice.


	6. She

It takes Zoro a minute to realize that while the slim blonde figure who has just entered the Baratie isn't who he--

_wished_

hoped

wanted

\--thought, he _has _met her before. Memories surface from a long time ago and by the time she sees him and exclaims "Zoro-san!" in surprised wonder, he remembers where and when he met her, if not her name.

It confuses him that she seems so comfortable at the Baratie, so familiar with the cooks, and then he understands.

Usopp's girlfriend is the doctor of Sanji's father, and East Blue is a small sea indeed.


	7. Doctor's Orders

Silent tension rises in the restaurant room as she heads towards Zeff's room.

The screaming starts five minutes later, and lasts twice as long. Then the girl -woman, now?- comes back with the same good-natured smile on her face, but the corners of her eyes are tense.

Whatever stories Usopp told her, she appears to believe that he's close to Zeff. Close enough that he needs to know the man will be dead within five weeks.

She promises to be back in a few days, and leaves on the ship that could so easily lead him elsewhere.

He stays.


	8. Fight

Zoro dislikes being used as a sick man's scale to test another's skills, and only accepts the sparring session out of utter boredom. He could counter all those kicks in his sleep at this speed; to make it worth the trouble he closes his eyes, reduces his speed and remains on top of the fight--

until suddenly he isn't anymore.

"Did you get this careless with the little eggplant?" Zeff sneers from above; if not for the wooden leg that is a hair's width away from crushing his throat, Zoro could tell him that no, he never dared to be.


	9. Tales

Kaya talks and Zoro listens.

Usually he does because it's the easiest way to get people to leave him alone, but Kaya is too nice to get on his nerves the way other women do.

She tells him about coming to this ship by accident on her way back to Syrup Village after she graduated from medical school, and the old man who accidentally, grudgingly became her first patient.

She tells him about the stories Usopp tells her on Grand Line, and never asks whether they are true or not.

Kaya talks, Zoro listens, and they're both comfortable that way.


	10. Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy?

"So, did the little eggplant get that redhead in the end?" Zeff asks after too much alcohol and too much recalling. Zoro snickers at the very thought but chooses to reach for the bottle instead of elaborating, which doesn't quite satisfy the old man.

"Did he get _anyone_?" he prods suspiciously, like a father who knows he's about to be disappointed by his son's marks but has to ask nonetheless.

And if Zoro's expression is somewhat soft as he nods, his voice a little wistful when he says 'yeah, he did', at least he can blame it on the liquor.


	11. The Sweetest Bride

He doesn't realizes that Kaya, with her sweet smile and gentle voice, is indeed a full-fledged doctor until she finds out about the late-night drinking.

Between the nagging, the righteous anger, the puppy eyes and the tight lock she immediately puts on the alcohol, she now seems like a terribly dangerous mix of Chopper, Nami, Luffy and Sanji.

As he takes the worst of the scolding (since the shitty old man is 'sick' and 'ailing' and 'should remain in bed'), he wonders if Usopp knows what he's getting into. And if he does, what that says about him.


	12. Future

"You going to see my stupid son again in this lifetime?" Zeff asks, barging in Sanji's former room in the middle of the night and deliberately ignoring Zoro's sleepy glare. Zoro wants to say yes but is sick of keeping promises, so he shrugs noncommittally. Zeff frowns, coughs heavily, says "Tell him I said 'good job'," and leaves.

According to Zoro's sense of drama, this is the night when the old man should fall asleep and never wake up. But the next morning Zeff is the first man up as usual, and Zoro almost wonders if he's dreamt the conversation.


	13. Missing

He wakes up at dawn like he does every day, to the usual weather; everything is normal but the coughing has stopped.

In Zeff's room Kaya cries silent tears as she practices the last of her duty, possibly for the first time. In the kitchen Patty, Carne and the other chefs cook like automates, as if it stops them from thinking. Zoro walks aimlessly in a place that isn't his own, not knowing how to deal or what to do.

The crew and visitors are still present and moving; yet in one night, the Baratie has become a ghost ship.


	14. Goodbye

The body is laid out on a dry wood raft, full with uniform, insanely tall hat and sharpened cooking knives. before being covered in used frying oil despite Kaya's heated protestations. She believes it's bad taste and cheap; Zoro privately agrees but think he's spent enough time in the company of cooks who take food way too seriously to understand.

Through the mild horror of Kaya clinging desperately to him as the raft burns away, all he can seem to do with his brain is wonder where the shitty cook is when the women need a shoulder to cry on.


End file.
